In My Arms
by xXSunshineGirlXx
Summary: In his arms. So many times had he held her in his arms. When she becomes ill, he hopes and prays that soon, he'll be able to hold her in his arms again. ZEKEPAY - Rating just in case!
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N: OK, I guess this is to make up for all the times I haven't posted Coming Back With Time or any of my OTHER stories, haha. Oh, well. I'm thinking on them, don't worry . . . Anyway, enjoy!)**

In My Arms

_Summary: In his arms. So many times had he held her in his arms. When she becomes ill, he hopes and prays that soon, he'll be able to hold her in his arms again. ZEKEPAY_

Zeke's POV:

When I walked into East High school, a few of my Wildcat friends greeted me, smiling. The Wildcats, meaning Troy Bolton, Chad Danforth, and Jason Cross. "Hey, man," Jason said. "Hey," I replied. As we headed to the junior year lockers, Troy said, "Dude, isn't that rehearsal thing for the spring musical today?"

"Yep." My girlfriend, Sharpay Evans, was the main part in the play. Her twin, Ryan, was the other main person. As usual. It wasn't a romance, so . . . yeah. _That_ would have been awkward. I was puting a few books into my locker, when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see a smiling Sharpay. "Hi, Zeke," she giggled. "You're kinda . . . giggle-y today," I smiled. "Hey, it's a dress rehearsal. I'm always like this on performance days."

"This . . . isn't a real performance," Chad observed. "As long as there's an audience, there's a show," Sharpay replied grandly. Troy asked, "What about all those other practices? Miss Darbus and the crew are kind of audiences."

"What I _meant_ was an audience consisting of people _other_ than the director or the crew," Sharpay said. The guys and I shrugged, and Sharpay walked off to her locker. Gabriella Montez, Taylor McKessie, and Kelsi Nielson said hi to us as well, giving their boyfriend each a kiss on the cheek.

The warning bell rang, and all of us headed toward Miss Darbus's classroom. Before announcements came on, Miss Darbus explained on how the dress rehearsal would be today, and that people in the cast and crew would need to leave at the start of sixth period, and how we'd all miss the last two periods of the day. Jason leaned over and whispered, "All right, no math class!"

"Or science," I whispered back. "Mr. Baylor, Mr. Cross, would you like to add something?" Miss Darbus looked at us behind her glasses, and I replied, "No, Miss Darbus." She looked at us for a while longer, then continued her talk until Principal Matsui came onto the P.A.

Throughout drama class, Miss Darbus ranted on . . . and on . . . and on about . . . well, drama stuff. I wasn't really listening. Jason fell asleep. When the bell that ended the first period rang, everyone moved slowly out the door, as if they'd just woken up. We headed to history, and Troy yawned, "Dude, that was the most boring Drama lecture I've ever sat through."

"You were listening?" Chad asked. Troy shrugged, and I said, "Yeah, that _was_ boring. That's what probably put Jason to sleep." Jason stretched and said, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

We walked into history and sat down, waiting for Mr. Fisher to begin class. We sat through history, then we had free period, and we had literature. At lunch, we sat at our usual spots with the others, and ate. "So, are you nervous for the play?" Gabriella asked Sharpay and Ryan. Ryan shrugged, "A little, but not much." Sharpay smiled, "No, I don't get nervous anymore. The real thing usually just feels like another practice for me."

"Wow, I wish that's how _I_ felt," smiled Gabi. "I remember before Twinkle Towne, I was so nervous, I thought I'd faint. I thought I'd trip or make a mistake, or something!"

"You're not making me feel any better," Ryan said. "Sorry." Chad asked, "Troy, dude, were you nervous before the musical thing you were in?"

"A little. Not like Sharpay, but not as bad as Gabi was." Jason asked, "Kelsi, did you have to compose any new songs for this?" Kelsi replied, "Yeah, a few. It's not a romance play, so it's mainly group songs or solos."

"Oh . . . " I asked jokingly, "I bet Sharpay got all the solos, right?"

"Hey!" Sharpay smacked my arm playfully and I laughed. "You nervous, Kelsi?" Jason asked. "Kind of, but not really."

"Is there a duet?" Troy asked. Kelsi thought, "Yeah, but it's not romantic." Troy shrugged, and we ate our lunch. "Hey, Shar, aren't you going to drink your milk?" Ryan asked. Sharpay shook her head, "No, I can't take any chances. If I drink something bad for my voice, the musical could be ruined!"

"Shar, it's the dress rehearsal."

"Ry, it's still a performance. I'm not taking any chances." Ryan said, "OK . . . whatever you say."

Fifth period was our language class (for me, French), and sixth period was our study hall. Jason said, "Break a leg, Kelsi." Kelsi smiled and hugged him, "Thanks. See you later."

"See you later, Shar," I smiled. "Bye, Zeke." She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I gave her a hug, whispering in her ear, "Break a leg." She smiled at me and waved before she, Ryan, Kelsi, and the others headed for the auditorium.

**(A/N: Nothing too dramatic. Yet. Dun, dun, dun! Sorry, weird moment there . . . Please leave a review! You know I love them!)**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N: Wow, sorry that I've kept you waiting. Although, I can honestly say . . . this has been a shorter wait than Coming Back With Time, huh? Yeah, I'm sorry about that. But I really am working on the next chapter . . . So, yeah. So, now I'll let you read on!)**

Sharpay's POV:

I was in my dressing room, putting on my make up when someone knocked on my door. "Who is it?" I called, putting on some eye-liner. A guy's voice said, "It's Orlando Bloom. Who do you think?" I sighed, rolled my eyes, and called back, "You can come in, Ryan."

Ryan opened the door, already in his first costume. I added, smiling, "Oh, and by the way, that was a horrible British accent." Ryan laughed, "Yeah, right. Like you could do better." Talking in a good British accent, I replied, "Oh, really? Why would you say that?"

Ryan rolled his eyes, and said, "Hurry up. Miss Darbus is already calling us backstage. People have already begun to come."

"Already? The play doesn't start until 1:30. It's only 1:20."

"I guess people wanted to get here earlier. Hurry up."

"I'm still putting on make-up!"

"Well, hurry up with make-up or hair or whatever and come backstage!"

"Fine, fine, fine! I'm almost done." So, after I finished my make-up, and made sure my hair looked all right, I headed backstage.

As I was listening to Miss Darbus's usual pre-rehearsal speech, my stomach felt kind of weird, and I was feeling light-headed. I put my hand to my head, wincing. "Hey, you all right?" Ryan whispered. I nodded, saying, "I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Hey, maybe you're just nervous?"

"Nervous? No, I'm not. I'm fine, really!" Maybe I _was_ nervous. Maybe what Gabi had said during lunch had gotten to me. Nonsense! An actress as talented as I am doesn't get nervous! At least, I hope they don't. The show must go on. I can't get nervous. Not now!

Finally, Miss Darbus ended her speech, and went beyond our red curtain to announce that the play would begin soon. I heard her voice, but it sounded fuzzy. What was wrong with me? I shook my head, and as the lights dimmed, we all got into our proper places as Kelsi began playing some background music. The beginning of the play went really well. Not one mistake by Ryan, myself, or anyone! It was toward the middle of the play that I began to feel even worse.

As Ryan and I stood there, on the stage, I listened to Ryan's lines, thinking on my cue. Ryan's words became fuzzy sounding, like Miss Darbus had earlier, but worse. I closed my eyes and opened them again, trying to get rid of my light-headed feeling. Ryan stopped talking, and looked at me. Was it my cue? Yes, it was. What were my lines? Ryan repeated _his_ last line and looked at me again.

The stage and the auditorium seemed to spin around me, and I suddenly felt very, very sick. Then, the stage floor rushed closer and closer as I fell into darkness.

**(A/N: So, what'd you think? I have one more chapter to post after this, but then I'm kinda having writer's block . . . I'll figure something out, don't worry . . . Please review!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N: Sorry for the long . . . long-ish wait. I haven't been on the computer in a while . . . so you know. Hope you like it!)**

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Zeke's POV:

"Hey, Ashley, why did the duck cross the road? Because the chicken was on vacation!" Ryan said, using Sharpay's stage name. _Man, that was a stupid joke, _I thought, _I wonder why Ryan said __that__ . . . _When Sharpay didn't say anything, Ryan said, "Did you hear my joke? Hilarious, right?"

Then, Sharpay suddenly fell. Not fell, like, off the stage, more like fainted. Was _this_ part of the play? Ryan kind of gasped, and then put his hands on his head and groaned. The audience laughed. I guess this _was_ part of the play . . .

Ryan walked over to Sharpay and knelt next to her. After a while, he exclaimed, "Miss Darbus! Someone call 911!" Miss Darbus rushed onto the stage, and I stood up, worried sick. This _wasn't_ part of the play. Something really _was_ wrong with Shar. I ran down the aisle, and practically jumped up onto the stage.

"What's wrong with Sharpay?" I asked. I knelt down opposite Ryan, and he looked at me, a worried look in his eyes, "I don't know." Sharpay was pale. A little too pale for me _not_ to worry.

"Call 911," Ryan said.

"I did already," Gabriella said, standing in front of the stage.

"Thank you." After what seemed like forever, paramedics came in with a stretcher. They carefully lifted Sharpay onto it, and got the stretcher off the stage.

"Wait, can I come with her?" Ryan asked.

"Are you family?"

"Yeah, I'm her brother." The paramedic looked at the other one, and nodded, "Sure."

"Can I come with -- ?"

"I'm sorry, son. Family only," the paramedic replied. I sighed, and nodded. Ryan followed the paramedics out the fire exit, and I heard the ambulance sirens wailing loudly as they drove away.

Miss Darbus dismissed the students and sent them back to classes, and while the gang and I were walking back to class, the other students gave me . . . looks. Not like, angry kind of looks. But . . . sad looks. I figured that they were looking at me like that because of Sharpay. Everyone knew we were dating.

But . . . they were looking at me like they were saying, _I'm sorry. Really._ It's not as if Sharpay had _died_, I mean . . . really. She'd be fine. Sharpay would be fine; she always was. There was about an hour left of school, and the teachers tried to go on as if nothing happened.

But it's kind of hard to do that when a student was just rushed off to the hospital after she fainted in the middle of the play. The classes were mostly quiet, OK, _really_ quiet, and when announcements came on, everyone seemed to jump from the noise. Principla Matsui gave us the usual announcements, lost and found, or whatever. I wasn't really paying attention.

After school, I called home to say I'd be home late. The gang had agreed to spend some time at the hospital to see how Shar was, and maybe do some homework there. Since I didn't have a car, I was riding with Troy and Gabriella. Chad and Taylor were riding together, and so were Jason and Kelsi. Wow, everyone was with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Except for me, of course.

We drove to the hospital, and asked where Sharpay's room was. The receptionist gave us the directions, and as our group walked through the hallways, we finally found the room. But, we only knew because Ryan was sitting on a plastic hospital chair outside.

"Hey, how is she?"

"The doctor said her condition was stable, and that she wouldn't need to be put into the ICU. So that's a good thing. He said she's doing pretty well."

"Your parents in there?"

"Yeah. The visitors are one at a time, so I'm waiting. Why don't we head to the waiting room? There's more chairs there, and it's literally across the hall." Ryan nodded towards the opposite door, which was the small-ish waiting room. The gang nodded and we made our way across the hall and sat down.

"So, do they know what was wrong with her?"

"Dehydration."

"Dehydration?" Gabi sounded like that was kinda weird. Which, it was. Could people faint from dehydration?

"Yeah. You know how Sharpay wouldn't drink anything at lunch?"

"Yeah?"

"We didn't really notice, but she hadn't been drinking much at home, either. All she drank was water, but not much of it."

"Did she do this for the other plays?"

"I don't think she did . . . or if she did, she still drank some instead of none at all."

"Oh. But she'll be all right. Right?"

"I think so." I sighed in relief and stared at the ceiling. Sharpay would be all right. She would be. I knew it. Besides, I couldn't think about what would happen if she _wasn't_ all right. I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to Sharpay.

**(A/N: So, what'd you think? Hope you liked it!! Please leave a review!)**


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